Archive for the ‘Bahrain’ Category

Condition grounded, but determined to fly home
K. V. S. Madhav, Bahrain Tribune
He dreads the very thought of darkness engulfing him forever, a ribbon of black stretched to the point of no turning back. He sits there, eyes lowered, fists clenched and numbed by the imminent danger of not being able to see his wife and [...]

I read this story about a Nepali student returning from US and what he went through when he saw hundreds of his compatriots being badly treated at the airport…. MUST READ.
By Tulsi Bhandari
Last month, Nepal’s newspapers were awash with reports of hundreds of Nepali workers in Qatar being driven from the country for demanding [...]

Home-bound, with heavy hearts
Bonny Mascarenhas,Bahrain Tribune

Sri Lankan domestic workers Grace and Mallika Geeganagegamage are heading home with memories of physical and mental abuse.
Mallika left yesterday on an Air Arabia flight on a ticket she purchased on her own. The MWPS and a well-wisher gave her some money for expenses during travel.
Grace will be leaving for [...]

Campaign to ensure implementation of break rule in Bahrain launched
By Suad Hamada, Special to Gulf News
Manama: A massive labour inspection campaign started yesterday to ensure implementation of the ban on construction and other outdoor work between noon and 4pm, labour official said.
The Director of Public and International Relations at the Ministry of Labour Subah Al [...]

Shocking!

July 16th, 2007 | Bahrain, Gulf, News, Women | Discuss (0)

Runaway suffers miscarriage at shelter
A distressed Filipina worker at the Philippine embassy shelter shocked officials on Thursday evening when she miscarried.
Fellow inmates first thought the worker, a woman in thirties, was bleeding because of some illness till they realised that she had a miscarriage. A doctor and paramedics were called to help the woman. The [...]

Amnesty ‘to draw wide response’ ahead of reforms
By Suad Hamada, Special to Gulf News
Manama: The amnesty for runaway expatriate workers is expected to be more successful than the one granted in 2002 which attracted around 5,000 individuals because of the government’s new tough regulations, activists said yesterday.
The number of runaway and free-visa workers is estimated [...]

Why?

July 8th, 2007 | Bahrain, Gulf, News | Discuss (0)

Report- Bahrain Tribune
Yet another Indian committed suicide yesterday evening in Riffa. The 35-year-old Indian working in a boutique in East Riffa committed suicide by hanging himself from the fan.
According to information released, the Indian had been experiencing financial problems following the expansion of his shop. The business he expected to come in was not forthcoming. [...]

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights has come out strongly against the move by the General Directorate of Traffic to ban foreign students and expatriates working in menial jobs from acquiring driving licenses. The law comes close on the heels of the one that bars unmarried expatriates from living in residential areas of Bahrain.
Describing [...]

‘M’ for maid.
‘M’ for money and ‘M’ for misery
They do not have a world of luxury but make sure that their employer does.
They do not hit you back when you hit them.
Traits like this have made them an essential ‘commodity’ in Bahraini households.
Families shell out hundreds of dinars as deposits and fees [...]

Finally, the moment of reckoning arrives for hundreds of immigrant labour toiling in Bahrain. The days of untold hardships in the hands of cruel sponsors and employers and living in anonymity would soon become a thing of the past. They can be legal workers of Bahrain, shedding the dreaded tag of ‘illegal’.
Amnesty is the magical [...]